Going to Any Length

The Long + Short of Running Shorts

Your running friends will also be quick to let you know if you’ve committed a fashion faux pas in your choice of shorts, whether they’re too short or tight or simply too bright, featuring some gaudy print in DayGlo fuschia. But if there’s a discernable trend in shorts for 2007, it may be that pretty much anything goes. Yes, the trendy sociological watchword "diversity" has finally reached the running fashion world.

The most obvious manifestation of this is in the variety of lengths available. Until recently, running shorts were like women’s skirts, with inseam lengths, like hemlines, rising and falling more or less in unison, going from short to long and then, most recently, creeping back up the thigh again.

But running-apparel makers came to the realization that the ever-widening running demographic required a similar breadth in the choices of shorts that were offered. So now, it’s not unusual to see one manufacturer produce a line that includes split shorts that barely cover the hip to NBA-length jams that graze the knee, and every length in between.

This reflects the varied backgrounds of today’s runners, according to Craig Vanderoef, Performance Running Apparel Product Line Manager at Brooks. "You’ve got people who ran competitively in school, who will prefer the shorter, split style, as well as guys coming into running from team sports like soccer or lacrosse, who are used to a longer length," he explains. "Because of them, a 7-inch inseam is now considered normal in a running short. As they, and casual runners who are just beginning in the sport, get more serious and start racing, they may graduate to a shorter, split-style short.

"The performance of split is never going to go away," Vanderoef claims, while also noting that today’s split shorts are cut a bit longer and sewn farther down to increase coverage while maintaining the split styling and performance.

"In addition to the split, you have semi-split and scallop construction now," says Michelle Ave, Senior Running Apparel Marketing Manager for Reebok. "It’s a way to give a little more coverage. Fabric technology is getting so much better, it means we don’t have to sacrifice function for fashion."

In general, longer lengths, even for splits, seems to be the trend of late. This can even be seen at the highest (and shortest) level among elite women, who are now favoring stretch Lycra "boy shorts" that cover the hip rather than the "bun huggers" that were often little more than extended bikini bottoms. This less revealing style has also become popular for high school girls, many of whom were reluctant to wear stretch briefs. "For the fitter girl who doesn’t have a lot of hip, they provide good coverage without a lot of extra fabric," says Vanderoef.

Those runners who have less-than-elite physiques haven’t been forgotten, however. Brooks has even gone so far as to design a short geared toward an extremely narrow market niche: the plus-size woman who walks marathons. The 26.2 Walker Short boasts plenty of pockets for energy gels, and a longer length shell with a compression short liner that extends down the thigh to prevent chafing.

In fact, compression liners are beginning to appear on mainstream shorts as well. "Two-in-one shorts [a compression liner under a regular shell] are becoming very popular," says Ave. "They give you the support of a compression short without being as revealing."

This melding of different fabrics is driving the design of shorts and making them look and perform better. Look for a move toward textured and stretch woven fabrics as replacements for the traditional microfiber polyesters, which Vanderoef says had a tendency to stick to the wearer and ride up.

The short and the long of it is that runners can expect an ever-broadening choice of styles, lengths and technologies in their second most important piece of running equipment. With all the offerings out there, it should be virtually impossible not to find a pair of shorts that both look and perform great on you.

"The best shorts are simple, designed to fit their purpose, and do the job that they’re meant to do," says Ave. "They should be so seamless with your run that you don’t even think about them." And thanks to much thought by the designers beforehand, you probably won’t have to.